Knob
Tense
You might say: past tense, present tense
Whether the narration says “she ran” or “she runs”. Le Guin notes that both are made up: fictional past tense is not really past.
- What it does
- Sets how time feels: past tense can range across time, present tense keeps the reader in the moment.
- Ask
- Do I need to move freely in time, or hold the reader in the moment?
- Trouble
- The tense slips between paragraphs by accident.
What to look for
- She ran or she runs on the page
- Past-tense moves looking back and across time
- Present-tense keeps the reader in the moment
Catalogue: Tense
- Past: “Maya ran.” Gives range: looking back, summary, and easy moves between earlier and later events.
- Present: “Maya runs.” Immediate, but Pullman argues that for a whole book it narrows what the prose can do.
Sources
- Myfanwy Collins, quoting Ursula K. Le Guin, Steering the Craft, chapter 6 quotation
The only real present time is the reader’s
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